


Final Parting (Voila IV) Part 3

by Johncowdrey



Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:56:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26734729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Johncowdrey/pseuds/Johncowdrey
Summary: End of the series.Please read notes
Relationships: Endeavour Morse/Joan Thursday
Comments: 10
Kudos: 7





	Final Parting (Voila IV) Part 3

**Author's Note:**

> The end of a love affair. Why Morse can never speak of Joan. Birth and death. 1973-1979. Historically correct with literary license. Canon compliant, I hope!

PLANNING A WEDDING  
FINAL PARTING PART 3 (VOILA 1V)

The Vicar of St Marks in Oxford welcomed Morse and Joan into the Vicarage,  
and asked why they wanted to get married in his church. Joan had been  
expecting this question, and so she gave him a very credible answer. Further  
questions followed, and when he asked Joan if Morse was the father of her child to  
be, she answered no, (because, as she later explained to Morse, she didn’t want the  
Vicar to know she was an adulteress) he was pretty non plussed by her unexpected  
answer. He was very concerned that Joan had been a widow for such a short  
amount of time. They had wanted to tell the Vicar the whole truth, but it did not really  
turn out that way. Some things were overlooked, as Joan’s first marriage took place  
in a register office. The Vicar was also interested that Morse had been bought up as  
a Quaker. He eventually agreed to the wedding, as it was legal, and they had known  
each other a long time, but not without some serious misgivings on his part.  
The final requirement was for them to be present for three consecutive Sunday  
services when the Banns were to be read to the congregation.  
(The banns ask if anyone has an objection to the wedding).  
Morse wrote a cheque out for the priest, and they were all set.  
After leaving the vicarage, and very much relieved, that it was over, they were  
wondering how the news will be received by Fred and Win.  
Fred was absolutely delighted that Morse “was going to do the right thing by his  
Joanie, and give his grandchild a full-time father.”  
Win and Joan had sherry, and the two men had Scotch. They all had a slice of  
Win’s freshly baked Dundee cake. The discussion then centred on where to go for  
the honey moon and everyone agreed, “Anywhere but Edinburgh”.  
Jersey was in the end, thought to be a good choice. It was then finally decided to  
have the reception at the Morse family home with Win and several of her friends  
looking after the catering.  
To Morse’s disappointment, Joan couldn’t stay the night, because of an early  
appointment at the maternity clinic, and Morse was on call that night so they had to  
make do with a very passionate goodnight kiss, when they arrived back at Joan’s  
house.  
THE MEMORIAL SERVICE  
Joan was just over eight months pregnant, and she was not looking forward to this  
one little bit. Since Anne had gone back to resume her studies at St Matilda’s, Morse  
had come over whenever he could. He had become quite a nag worrying about her  
living alone in her big house, but Joan loved her job and her house was just a  
stone’s throw from the House of Commons.  
Two remarkable things happened during the service, firstly she met, and was sat  
next to the man who was destined to be her boss, in a couple of years.  
The second was listening to Enoch eulogising about her late husband, which made  
her think she must be at the wrong service. He made Phillip seem like a cross  
between Winston Churchill and Albert Schweitzer.  
After the service was over Joan learned that Airey Neave, the man she had been  
sitting next to, had been covering a lot of her constituency work, as his own  
constituency was Witney, which was next door to Oxford Central. Joan had done as  
much as she could, always turning up for emergency votes, and keeping in touch  
with the members in Oxford, but all in all, it had been a very worrying and physically  
challenging time for her, and the maternity clinic was concerned her miscarriage six  
years earlier was playing a part in her difficulties now.  
Joan met a lot of her old friends, and had lunch with Margaret Thatcher, who thought  
there may be an election soon and Labour could well win it, hinting that she thought  
Ted was past his sell by date.  
CONNIE OR FREDDIE  
Morse had taken a leave of absence from his job as Shirley Trulove’s’” Guvnor,”  
to be with Joan in the latter stages of her pregnancy. Operation gown had ceased,  
and he had been reassigned as Desmond McNutt’s deputy. D.C.I McNutt was due  
to take over from the retiring Mr Bright, and was not very pleased at losing his best  
detective. He could not see why Morse’s girlfriend could not move to Oxford for the  
birth, but he granted his leave anyway.  
Joan did not want to go back to Oxford, as she knew her parents would drive her  
mad with their fussing, worrying and interfering, though to be fair, they did mean well,  
and they did give her a lot of support throughout her difficult pregnancy.  
Joan spent a lot of time thinking of her lost baby, and praying everything would be  
fine this time, in spite of her previous miscarriage.  
Whenever she thought of her personal tragedy, she thought of Ray, a man she once  
thought she loved,” was he still preying on desperate, naive girls like she had once  
been”, she wondered.  
“I hope Morse never finds out what that bastard did to me, if he did, I think he would  
break his bloody neck” Joan thinks to herself.  
“Morse, Morse for god’s sake wake up, I’ve been counting my contractions, and  
I think it’s time, we have to go......NOW!”  
Morse had been very organised, and worked out the quickest route to St. Thomas’s,  
made sure Joan had a bag packed by the front door, and the Jaguar was serviced  
and kept fuelled up, but of course when it actually happened, he was running round  
like a headless chicken.  
“Shall I Phone your mum?”  
“No, we have to get going Morse”  
On the way Morse gets stopped for speeding by his colleagues in traffic. After being  
shown his warrant card, the policemen take a look at Joan; after Morse has refused  
the offer of an escort, they get waved on their way.  
Arriving at the hospital he somehow finds a wheelchair for Joan, and they race off to  
the Maternity ward, with Morse thanking God he had bothered to find out where it  
was.  
Following an argument with the Sister in charge (warrant cards meant nothing to  
her), he makes his way to the waiting room, which is populated by six or seven men  
in various states of anxiety. It also had two pay phones, one of which was vacant,  
and after what seemed an age-  
“Hello Fred, it’s Morse, and yes it’s started, I’m in the waiting room, they kicked me  
out of the ward. No, I haven’t a clue how long it will be who knows? But Joan is fine,  
so, tell Win not to worry, she’s in good hands. So, you’re going to have a few more  
hours kip, then drive to Joan’s house, unpack then come to the hospital, sounds like  
a good plan, see you then, bye”  
Morse then wakes up his old friend Jim Strange to tell him what’s happening, and to  
pass the good news on to Anne.  
(After their meeting in Richardson’s Jim had more or less guessed that Morse was  
the father, and it was confirmed by Anne, but they did keep it to themselves).  
Just before eight a.m., a nurse comes into the waiting room, carrying a brown folder  
calling out “Endeavour Morse”, he is so desperate for news he doesn’t notice the use  
of his hated first name.  
“Things have moved on, Mr Morse Joan’s waters have broken, you can go in to see  
her for a short while. Joan did not have a particularly good night, but she’s fine now  
but very tired and emotional.  
“Have you any idea how long it’s going to be?”  
“Hard to say, babies arrive when they’re ready”  
Morse inwardly groans and selfishly thinks “can my nerves cope with all of this?”  
Joan is sitting up in bed looking very tired and pale, but is very pleased to see  
Morse.  
He tells her how lovely she looks, and that her mum and dad are on their way, and  
should be here soon, and so should Anne. Joan is heavily sedated to help with the  
labour pains, and she tearfully begs Morse to forgive her, before falling asleep.  
Morse of course hasn’t a clue what’s she’s talking about. Pulling up a chair, and  
holding Joan’s hand, he is soon fast asleep in the chair.  
“The nurse said you both looked so comfortable, she decided to let you sleep on”,  
Fred says, after giving his daughter a kiss.  
Morse stretched and yawned, shook Fred’s hand and kissed Win on the cheek.  
“After you phoned, Morse, we had a call from my sister Renee, she’s got this virus  
that’s going around, she’s getting on now, and I promised to go up there once  
Joan’s had her baby and feeling better, to look after her”  
They worked out a shift system to keep an eye on Joan, and it was an overjoyed Win  
that was on the phone giving out the news to an equally overjoyed Morse that he  
was the father of a beautiful baby girl weighing 7lb 8ozs, Mother and Connie were  
doing fine,  
“I expect that you can’t wait to see Connie, so we will be leaving soon.  
Morse arrived at the Hospital at about 9p.m., and Fred and Win had already left.  
The lady who registered births and deaths saw Joan a few hours earlier, and  
they filled out the birth certificate together, and it was placed in a long brown  
envelope with the flap left open.  
When Morse wandered in, he saw that Joan was fast asleep, and he noticed the  
open envelope on the bedside cabinet. After reading it through three times, Morse  
tried to wake Joan to tell her somebody had made a terrible mistake, but a passing  
nurse said “it’s better you let her sleep, for some reason she became upset filling in  
the birth certificate, and we had to give her a mild sedative.  
“Well could I see her daughter Constance, please?”  
“Are you, Lord Conway, sir?”  
“No, I am not,” Morse said angrily  
“Sorry, sir it’s fathers only, at the moment, but perhaps tomorrow, and by the way sir  
that document you are holding is confidential, you know”  
Morse has had some bad moments in his life, but nothing compared to the sheer  
sense of desolation, rejection and the feeling of betrayal by Joan, the woman he  
would happily have taken a bullet for, and still would.  
Morse folds the certificate, and puts it back in its envelope, places it back on top of  
the bedside cabinet, and kisses Joan on the forehead.  
He then does something, he swore he would never do again, walk away when she is  
unconscious in a hospital bed, history is repeating itself once again for Morse and  
Joan.  
“Excuse me nurse I was expecting a visitor last night, did you happen to see him?”  
“Yes, when I first came on duty, there was a chap here, very upset about Connie’s  
birth certificate, when I told him I couldn’t let him see Connie, because he wasn’t the  
father, well I thought he was going to have a fit! “  
Morse knew that there was only two ways he was going to be able to deal with this  
catastrophic blow to his ego.  
Firstly, attempt to drink himself to death.  
Secondly, go away, clear off, vamoose however you want to describe it.  
The first option was now out of the question, despite Joan’s fraudulent scrap of  
paper, Morse knew that Connie was his daughter, and who knows she might need  
him someday soon.  
This was why Morse was driving to Lincoln to see Joyce, his half-sister who could  
always be relied upon for good advice, and a refuge, not to mention a willing ear for  
all his all troubles.  
Joan’s first thought was that Morse might do something silly, her second thought was  
that he might use this as an excuse to dump her, and take up with Shirley, and her  
third thought was, she couldn’t really blame him if he did.  
Joan was however, determined that as far as the outside world was concerned,  
Phillip would always be Connie’s father. If Morse couldn’t handle that..........too bad.  
Phillip had left her in poverty, (the solicitor had told her she had avoided losing her  
home, only by the skin of her teeth, and to sort out the high court judgements, and to  
redeem the mortgage from the Middle east bank would cost tens of thousands.)  
No, she had been given a way out, and she had taken it. End of story.  
Anne arrived shortly before noon, laden with flowers and fruit, and dying to see  
Connie. The nurse went to get her for Anne, while she was away, Joan briefed her  
about Morse, and the night before. When Joan had finished explaining, Anne went to  
the waiting room to try and get in touch with Morse........no answer.  
She then phoned her boyfriend, Jim, at Castle gate.  
“Yeah sure, I’ll go round there when I’ve finished my shift. Hasn’t he got a step-sister  
somewhere? She might know where he is”.  
Anne knew Morse came from Lincoln, and she remembered that on their date he  
had talked about a relative called Joyce. Therefore, Anne hoped she was looking for  
a Joyce Morse from Lincoln.  
Anne’s detective work turned up trumps because directory enquiries found her.  
They were very lucky, because Joyce was getting married, and changing her name  
shortly, finding her then would have been almost impossible.  
“Excuse me, are you expecting your brother Endeavour to visit you soon?”  
“Yes, I am, is everything all right?”  
“Hello Joyce my name is Anne; I’m a friend of your brother’s girlfriend Joan. Joan is  
in hospital at the moment, and would like to talk to him. If you could ask him to ring  
her in a few days, when she has been discharged, that would be great. The phone  
number is.............”  
Anne went back to inform Joan of her success, and then to gossip, and play with  
Connie until it was time for her to go.  
MORSE RETURNS  
Of course, Morse never bothered to return the phone call, he was far too sorry for  
himself for that, his sister Joyce however did phone Joan to let her know Endeavour  
was on his way home.  
Morse had been away, for almost a month, and returned to a pile of letters blocking  
his front door. Virtually all were of the junk mail variety, but two were important for  
different reasons. He had really pushed his luck with D.C.I. McNutt, by over staying  
his leave of absence, and one of the letters was from the afore mentioned D.C.I,  
demanding he reports to his office as soon he returns home.  
The second was an invitation from Joan to attend his own daughter’s christening  
at St Marks church at noon in one month’s time.  
He thought he had better get the “interview” with McNutt out of the way, and so  
phoned his boss’s office to let him know he was on his way in.  
Morse got well and truly hauled over the coals by the D.C.I., “irresponsible”,  
“pathetic” and “prima donna” were words plainly heard by Jim Strange and his  
colleagues in the adjoining office. The normally mild-mannered McNutt threatened to  
have him busted to P.C.and back on the beat, well what he actually said involved  
tearing the pips off of Morse’s uniform and pushing them up his arse with a rubber  
truncheon.  
When Morse got home his ears were still ringing from the” hairdryer” treatment  
he had received at the hands of his boss.  
Dozing off in his favourite chair, and cupping a glass of malt whiskey, he suddenly  
becomes aware of the phone ringing.  
“Morse here”  
“Hello Morse, its Joan I really think it’s time for us to talk, and for you to meet your  
daughter, that is, if you have recovered from your strop, I am at my parents, and they  
are still at Aunt Renee’s, so we will be alone, except for Constance of course.”  
“How are you Joan, are you all right now?” he ask’s in an off handed manner.  
“It’s a bit late to worry about that, after walking out on me when I really needed your  
support and reassurance. Can you understand how humiliating it was to have to rely  
on Anne for help? And while we are on the subject, why did you go running off to  
your little sister, and not phone me, was Shirley too busy?”  
Morse is barely able to control his temper,  
“Constance is my daughter, as you’ve admitted; I have every right to have my name  
on her birth certificate, Joan”  
“Your only rights Morse are those I choose to give you. In case you have forgotten  
we’re not married, and not likely to be, as I have cancelled our wedding, I’ll see  
you at the christening, if you can be bothered to turn up that is?”  
Joan then slams the phone down.  
“Those binary stars have had a major collision”

THE CHRISTENING  
It was a lovely Sunday morning, and those worshippers who had nothing to  
do or had a late Sunday lunch planned, stayed on for the Christening.  
Morse was glad of their presence, as he thought he may not be noticed, among them  
This was a pretty forlorn hope with Joan keeping an eagle eye out for him.  
Morse was hiding at the back of the knave near the vestry, when Joan spots him,  
and passes Connie over to her mum to hold.  
Marching down the aisle she should have been walking down as a bride. Joan says  
“What on earth are you doing, skulking over here, I want you to meet your daughter,  
oh, look there’s my cousin Carol and her husband, come on I’ll introduce you.”  
“This is Morse, my one-time husband to be, and father of Connie.”  
“We have met, Joan, at your parents’ house, amongst other places” Carol says  
winking at Morse.  
“Exactly how well do you know Morse?” Joan says suspiciously  
“You know Joan; we were just ships that passed in the night”  
Morse, highly embarrassed shuffles off to talk to Jim Strange, who is with his fiancée  
Anne, who hypocritically expresses her sadness that Morse and Joan’s wedding  
plans have fallen through.  
Before the service takes place, Joan says she has an announcement to make, and  
Morse hopes it’s not about him.  
” Jim and Anne have named the day, the first Saturday in July 1974, at this very  
church,” everybody congratulates them but not boisterously, after all it is a church.  
As the father, Morse has to stand by Joan, and promise to bring Connie up in the  
Christian faith, the god parents make similar vows, and the child is anointed with  
Holy water from the font, and after prayers, congratulations and photos, it’s everyone  
back to the Thursday’s for tea and cakes.  
Sam had managed to get some leave to meet his niece, Constance, and he is not  
too happy with Morse as he is under the strong impression that Morse has ditched  
his big sister, and Sam these days, is a man it’s best not to upset.  
“Let’s get this straight, as I have told our dad countless times, what happened  
between Morse and me is our business, not yours, not dads not anyone’s but ours.  
If it makes you feel any better, I dumped Morse, not because he hurt me in anyway,  
but because I thought we were not right for each other at this time and I still don’t.  
So, Sam, do you promise to behave yourself, because if you threaten, bully or  
embarrass him in any way, well don’t make me choose between the two of you”  
The party ends early because Carol drinks too much, and starts to hit on Morse, and  
then her husband gets jealous, and wants to hit on Morse too, but not in the same  
way. It’s left to Sam to sort it out, and it convinces Sam that as far as women are  
concerned, Morse is nothing but trouble.  
When Carol and her husband have left, Joan suggests to Morse, they take Connie  
out in her pram to the park, as it is a lovely evening.  
“I wish you would reconsider Joan”  
“Reconsider what?”  
“Our marriage of course”  
Morse goes on to try and get Joan to change her mind, but despite his best efforts,  
and pleadings she refuses, he is sure there is something else bothering her,  
something she can’t tell him about, so he asks her if there is somebody else.  
“No of course not, at the moment I haven’t got time for a man in my life, even you”  
She says cheekily, giving him a playful shove.  
And Morse believes her. 

AS TIME GOES BY  
It was inevitable really, that Morse and Joan would be drawn back together, after all  
they were meant to be together, and little Connie was the glue that was going to bind  
them. They started off by taking her to the park, going to the shops, walks around  
Oxford, and boat trips down the Thames, and then a magical day in Brighton, where  
they slurped ice cream, ate fish and chips while paddling in the sea, and then stood  
at the end of the pier, holding hands, watching the sun go down, and wishing the day  
would never end.  
In 1974 Joan found herself fighting a general election. While Morse refused point  
blank to go knocking on doors, he was however quite happy to trudge round  
housing estates, in the pouring rain pushing envelopes through letter boxes.  
Morse also made his home available as a committee room on election night.  
He liked to keep out of the limelight as much as possible, but when the result  
was announced in the Town Hall that Joan had won by a large majority, they  
kissed in a way that seemed anything but friendly to the spectators.  
The Conservatives were however voted out of office, Harold Wilson had won for  
Labour by a whisker.  
Later that year it was blindingly obvious to everyone (if not themselves) that  
they were back together, not as a couple, but as a family unit.  
At Jim and Anne’s wedding, Morse revelled in being a family man, and proud  
Father and he was beginning to forget what life were like without them.  
1975 was a year Joan would never forget, her friend Margaret Thatcher became  
Shadow Prime Minister after beating Ted Heath in a leadership contest. Airey  
Neave, Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland badly needed a hand,  
as “The Troubles” were growing out of control. Joan was appointed his deputy,  
and given a seat in the Shadow Cabinet.  
Shortly after Joan’s promotion, her friends including Morse, Jim Strange  
and Robbie Lewis were all visited by Special branch. The point of these visits  
was to “suggest” that because of the “sensitive” nature of Joan Brown’s new  
duties,” they would be well advised to discuss her as little as possible, if at all  
for her safety as well as their own”.  
Tragically, barely six months after Joan’s promotion, Colour Sergeant Sam  
Thursday, recently transferred to the Parachute Regiment, was shot dead in the  
Falls Road, Belfast, whilst out on patrol.  
Morse and Joan were both deeply shocked at the effect the news had on her  
parents.  
Win was in complete denial, and Fred was as a man suffering from shell shock,  
wandering around at Sam’s funeral, telling everyone,  
“I told him not to volunteer for anything, why didn’t he listen?”  
This was going to prove a terrible eighteen months for Joan, as Connie caught  
a severe case of the measles, and nearly died, and both her parents passed away.  
Joan was a resilient person, but she had never been so glad of Morse’s love and  
support, and wondered not for the first time if she should have had more faith, and  
confided in him, about her one-night stand with Huw, her brother in law, 9 months  
before Connie was born and whether Morse should have made the final decision  
about their marriage.  
Fred was never really the same man after Sam died. He blamed himself for Sam  
enlisting all those years ago, no man was ever prouder of his son, than Fred.  
Fred started drinking too much, and smoking cigarettes again, eventually he  
developed Chronic bronchitis, and succumbed to a severe infection of the lungs  
caused by an old gunshot wound.  
Joan took Fred’s death badly; she brooded about all the scrapes she had gotten into,  
which had caused him so much distress, and embarrassment. Even her recent  
behaviour, cheating on her husband, and cancelling her wedding must have had her  
Dad tearing his hair out. “Sam must have seemed a paragon of virtue compared to  
me, perhaps dad thought the wrong one died?” Joan was in pieces, but Morse  
was around, as usual to help her pick them up.  
Win just really gave up after Fred went, becoming ever more dependent on pills to  
get her up in the morning, and to send her to sleep at night. Despite Win’s  
disapproval, Joan was able to arrange round the clock care for her Mum.  
Joan discovered her at about five o’clock in the afternoon, in her favourite armchair.  
The nurse arrived with Win’s shopping, shortly after Joan. After the nurse had called  
for an ambulance, and Joan had answered Connie’s incessant questioning,  
“What’s wrong with Nana, Mummy?”  
“She’s gone to heaven darling, to be with Granddad and Uncle Sam”  
Joan called Morse.  
Joan was now the owner of her parent’s house, and she decided to move back to  
Oxford which pleased Morse no end, as he would be seeing a lot more of her and  
Connie. The house in Lord North St. was far too big for her and her daughter, and  
she wanted Connie to be brought up with green fields, and woods to play in, as she  
had, when she was a young girl.  
Her old house fetched over £200,000 at auction, and with that she bought an  
Ultra-modern 2 bedroom flat in an adjoining street, modernised her new home  
in Oxford. Joan also secretly paid off Morse’s mortgage (he didn’t notice for years).  
Joan was now entitled to a car and driver to take her to and from the House of  
Commons, but for the sake of economy she started sharing with her Boss who lived  
in nearby Witney.  
THE FINAL PARTING  
29th March 1979  
Piotr Ilyich Ramirez is Venezuelan, he is also the most successful assassin in the  
Black September terror organisation He is better Known as Carlos the Jackal.  
Piotr is probably the most wanted man in the world. He has been hired at enormous  
expense to do a job the I.N.L.A. were unable to do, to commit an atrocity in the  
House of Commons car park.  
The Jackal has finally heard the news he has been waiting for.  
“On the 30th of March, the 1st target will be using his own car, a Vauxhall Cavalier  
to travel to Westminster via Oxford, picking up the 2nd target there, and then  
travelling to London via the A40.”  
This information was given by an informant in the House of Commons Car Pool.  
The Jackal spent the afternoon reconnoitring the area around Airey Neave’s home in  
Witney, and after learning all he wanted to know, he went home to sleep.  
30th March 1979  
The Jackal was dressed from head to toe in black, checking his luminous wrist watch. It said 2.30 a.m., “time to go” he thought.  
Making his way up the bridle path next to the Neave residence, he carried a large  
rucksack and a bag of tools. The back gate was easy to open, just a simple padlock  
was baring his way. The garage proved a little more problematic, with two top of the  
range Chubb locks fastening the sturdy garage door. However, his set of Locksmith’s  
picks did the job in about 10 minutes.  
Once inside he took the “state of the art” radio controlled magnetic land mine out  
of his rucksack, and attached it to the Vauxhall Cavalier’s chassis. Finally, he  
double checked the car’s registration number, make and model, and then fitted 4  
ever ready plus batteries in to their terminals, and the device was armed. After  
checking everything was functioning, he quickly left the way he came, making sure  
he had left everything the way he found it.  
Connie was very excited; she was finally going up to London to visit Mummy’s  
friend Auntie Margaret. Uncle Airey would be taking them in his new car. She was  
really looking forward to seeing where Mummy worked and having tea in The Tea  
Room, the only thing she was sad about was that Morse couldn’t come because of  
his stupid work, (Connie, by now regarded Morse as her dad.)  
Morse had never felt happier in his whole life, Joan had at the third time of  
asking, accepted his proposal of marriage. Joan also had news of her own, because  
despite what the hospital had said six years ago, they were going to have another  
child in October, and tonight they were going to break the news to Connie, that not  
only was she going to be a bridesmaid, but she was going to have a little brother or  
sister to play with, and on Saturday the three of them were going to the jewellers to  
choose her Mummy’s ring.  
Joan knew that Airey had been earmarked as the new Defence Secretary, and in  
all probability she would be offered his old job, much as she would have liked to  
say yes, her unexpected pregnancy had changed all that, and when the  
time came she would have to apply for the “Chiltern Hundreds” (a device that  
allows Members to resign).  
She just hoped her friend and mentor Margaret would not try and talk her out of it, as  
she could be very persuasive when she wanted to be.  
The Jackal arrived back at the safe house at Priory Park Rd, Kilburn at 3.45 a.m. He  
showered and then went to bed where he had an untroubled sleep for two hours.  
When he awoke, he dressed in workmen’s clothes, and made himself a packed  
lunch with a large thermos of black coffee. Firstly, he packed into his large black  
rucksack the device’s control box, which looked identical to those used by hobbyists  
to fly model aircraft, but it served a much more deadly purpose. He then packed the  
rest of his equipment, including his Zeiss binoculars, and locksmith picks.  
Ten Minutes later at 7.15 a.m. he was on his way to Westminster riding his Vespa  
motor scooter.  
“Come on Connie, Uncle Airey is here we have to get going ........NOW!”  
The Jackal was settled in his roof top eyrie. He was enjoying an early morning  
cup of coffee while he surveyed the early arrivals to the car park. He had picked his  
spot well, because he had an excellent view of his target’s allocated parking space.  
The man on the corner, reading a large newspaper was his accomplice, his job  
was to flap his paper when the target car passed, giving the Jackal advance warning  
of its arrival.  
Thirty minutes later and the other terrorist was flapping his paper like crazy and, then  
he was hurrying away in the direction of the Thames.  
The Jackal saw what had happened, and then settled down to verify the car’s  
number plate with his powerful binoculars.  
Making sure the aerial was extended to its maximum length, he waited for the  
Vauxhall to reverse into its parking space, and when it had stopped, he pressed the  
red detonating button…… and nothing, something had gone badly wrong.  
He watched the man, woman and child walk gaily towards the lift, and the  
safety of the Great Hall.  
“SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! “The Jackal cursed, the most dangerous man in the world had  
forgotten to put the batteries in the control box. Carlos and his monumental ego were  
forced to go and look for a corner shop that sold batteries. When he returned from  
his errand he was fuming and determined he would not be humiliated again,  
and so he waited, and waited.  
Joan’s last sensation on this earth, was a flash of sunlight reflected from the  
Jackal’s binoculars, which caused her to blink, then a blinding white light then the  
blackest black and then.........nothingness.  
The mighty implosion caused massive amounts of air to be sucked towards the  
car which fuelled the flames of the exploding petrol tank, and lifted the car six feet  
off the ground, the cataclysmic WHUMP could be heard up to five miles away, even  
with the noise of the rush hour traffic.  
By the time the car had landed Carlos was making his escape.  
By the time the first press conference was being held, he was at Heathrow, boarding  
the last flight of the day to Damascus, 1st class of course.

• Footnote I.N.L.A. Is the Irish National Liberation Army.

EPILOGUE  
Sometime later  
Since Joan and Connie had gone Morse felt like he was the star in his own personal  
horror film, only the one he was in never ended, that old Ham Valdemar never had a  
clue what real horror was about, Morse concluded.  
He really could not remember the last time he had slept for more than an hour at a  
time, and he spent every minute of every day thinking about their last seconds, and if  
he had not had to work he would be with them now, not stuck in this endless  
purgatory that was his life now.  
In his pocket he had a bottle of powerful barbiturates, he had stolen from  
Doctor de Bryn’s surgery, and indoors was a bottle of a twenty-year-old Malt he  
had been saving for this occasion, to celebrate his release.  
Opening his front door, he became aware of a fragrance that he couldn’t quite put his  
finger on, but as he got closer to the stairs, it got stronger and more familiar.  
Climbing the stairs, he realised what it was, it was Joan’s perfume of choice, Chanel  
No 5. Morse smiled for the first time in weeks as he remembered that it was often  
the only thing she wore in bed. Following his nose into their bedroom he noticed a  
pristine white envelope, with the House of Commons logo in the corner, placed on  
the side of their bed he used to occupy. Carefully opening it he found a photo of  
himself, Joan and Connie holding hands at the end of Brighton pier, watching a  
beautiful sunset, at the end of a magical day, they had all wished would never end.  
THE END

**Author's Note:**

> A touch of the supernatural?, you decide.


End file.
